Ghost Ranch near Abiquiú became one of Georgia O'Keeffe’s favorite New Mexico subjects.
The area’s cliffs, mesas, and changing desert light supplied material for many of her paintings. O'Keeffe began visiting the region in the late 1920s and repeatedly returned to its distinctive geological forms, especially the formations known as the Cerro Pedernal and the cliffs around Ghost Ranch.
Ghost Ranch was not merely a scenic backdrop. O'Keeffe used selected shapes from the landscape as highly simplified compositions, often cropping or rearranging what she saw. Her paintings transformed recognizable terrain into bold fields of color and form.
Ghost Ranch is sometimes mixed up with Abiquiú, where O'Keeffe owned a home and studio. The two places are closely connected geographically and biographically, but they are distinct locations. Ghost Ranch is the celebrated landscape site; Abiquiú was her village home.